9. South Shields Museum & Art Gallery

Celebrating the rich heritage of South Tyneside and the people who shaped it, you must stop and take a look around South Shields Museum and Art Gallery. Free to enter, the museum is spread over two floors and through exhibitions, displays and works of art tells the stories of the area’s maritime, industrial and social history from 4,000 years ago to the present day.

You’ll also find a creature corner with reptiles and insects, and a lovely tearoom. 

For those interested in the building’s history — it was built in 1860 as a home for the South Shields Literary, Mechanical and Scientific Institution. Then in 1873 it became the town’s first free Public Library and Reading rooms before opening as a museum in 1876.